Survivors
by svlpjes16
Summary: "'I wasn't gunna hit ya" Daryl spoke softly but strongly, and he offered Carol a sympathetic tilt of his head and even more sympathetic eyes. She was nodding before she could speak. The words were not coming fast enough, and she needed to let him know, needed him to know so badly, that she didn't believe he was that kind of man" After their argument Daryl finds Carol to apologize


**Hello! This story takes place during season 2, shortly after Carol goes to Daryl's camp to check on him, and he yells at her about Sophia. I think that scene is so powerful between them, and I think it was played out amazingly. The way they both said so much without saying anything at all, with that powerful look between them . . . it's inspiring. And I feel like there easily could have been a follow up scene to their encounter, and so I wrote what I think could have possibly happened had the show taken that route. I hope you guys like this! Thanks for reading!**

"I'm sorry"

Carol jumped, startled by Daryl's gruff voice as it broke through the silence unexpectedly. She knew immediately that it was him and her heart rate started to return to normal as she turned to look at him. She let out a deep sigh of relief when she met eyes with him, and watched as he leaned against the RV's door frame .

"You scared me" She said softly, her lips parting into a small smile.

Daryl nodded his apology and put his hands up innocently, "I'm sorry. Sorry. Didn't mean to sneak up on ya"

Carol shook her head, quickly refuting his apology. "It's alright" She shifted in her seat at the RV's kitchen table, and watched him take a step closer. He was wringing his hands as he stepped closer to her, and gave her a curt nod.

He stopped in front of the table, and gestured to the booth across from her. Carol nodded her head quickly. "Of course, please"

Daryl sat down, averting his eyes from hers, and bringing his thumb up to his mouth, biting on his nail nervously. He cleared his throat before looking up, and when he met her eyes she could tell how truly concerned he really was.

"I wasn't gunna hit ya" Daryl spoke softly but strongly, and he offered Carol a sympathetic tilt of his head and even more sympathetic eyes.

She was nodding before she could speak. The words were not coming fast enough, and she needed to let him know, _needed _him to know_ so_ badly, that she didn't believe he was that kind of man.

"I know" She spluttered as soon as her mouth would let her. "I know" She repeated quickly, continuing to shake her head. She gave him a reassuring grin.

Daryl let out a noticeable sigh of relief, and she saw his shoulders deflate in relaxation, the obvious weight of his concern lifted. He gave her a quick nod of his head and a small smirk as well.

Carol smiled back at him, and reached across the table to touch his hand that was resting atop it. She placed hers on top of his gently, and gave him a reassuring rub with her thumb. She felt his hand grip the table tightly at her touch, and could physically feel how hard he was trying to resist his instinct to pull his away. But soon enough his conflicted tension – do I pull back? Or do I not?- was gone, and she relaxed her hand on top of his. And as she looked at how relieved he had become, and how nervous he had been walking in there, she couldn't help but feel pained for how she must have made him feel.

He had thought that she thought he was going to hit her. He had thought she thought he was that impulsive, that violent, that . . .cruel. That she thought he was a no good, crazy, country redneck who thought the rightful place for a woman was the backside of his hand. That he was the type of man, the type of person, that would hurt someone else out of frustration. The kind of guy that would hit _her_.

And she knew that hurt him more than anything - that he didn't think she trusted him. That she didn't believe in him. That she didn't feel comfortable around him. That she feared him.

That she wrote him off like everyone else.

It killed her that she had made him feel that way, even for a few hours, it was much too unbearably long. He didn't deserve that, and he didn't deserve to have her thrown it all in his face. But she had.

She flinched.

She _flinched_. How else better to show someone you don't trust them, you don't believe in them, than to flinch when they step toward you? It wasn't him. It really wasn't. And she wanted so badly to tell him that. To tell him that he wasn't the reason she flinched – that she had been doing that long before she met him. To tell him that she wasn't afraid of him, and that she didn't believe he would ever hurt her.

To tell him that she knew he wasn't like Ed.

She rubbed her thumb over his hand for a few seconds longer, and offered him another smile, this one drenched with apology. And, although she knew he wasn't usually one for all the emotional stuff, even he couldn't ignore the tear that was falling down her face.

He quickly opened his mouth to say something, but struggled to find words. He opened and closed it a few more times, before shaking his head.

"I'm sorry" Daryl said again, his face enveloped in empathy and apology again, and concern and sympathy flooding his eyes. Carol shook her head and gripped his hand with hers.

"No, _I'm_ sorry" She said, using her other hand to wipe the tears from her cheek. He tilted his head at her, and continued to look at her with those compassionate eyes.

And the fact that he didn't even _know_ – that made it all worse. She let a few more tears slide down her cheek and she continued to rub Daryl's hand. She shook her head continuously, and when she cleared her throat, she spoke through the tears.

"I'm sorry, Daryl. I'm sorry I flinched. I'm sorry I reacted like that, I shouldn't' have. I know –" She sniffed and cleared her throat again before continuing on, "I know you weren't going to hit me. Not _you_. I know you're not like that. And I'm sorry that you thought I did"

Daryl moved his other hand slowly toward Carol's that was on top of his own. He placed his on top of hers softly and just held it there, pressing his warm skin against hers, and letting her feel he was there. Had it been a few months back, Carol would have been surprised at his gesture. But, Daryl had come a long way in the time she had known him, and although still somewhat out of place for him, she welcomed the touch. It meant more than he could possibly know.

"It's okay" Daryl said softly. Carol looked at his hand on hers and then quickly up to his amazingly blue eyes. She was so proud of how far he had come. How much he had changed and allowed himself to. It reaffirmed in her that she had made a terrible mistake when she reacted like that the night before. Daryl was a great guy. She knew that. It was about time he believed it too.

"No." Carol refuted him quickly. "It's not. I'm sorry, Daryl" Carol quickly shook her head. "It's not okay. It was wrong, and I shouldn't have done that. And I'm mad at myself, please believe me that I am. I'm mad that I took that reaction, it's just something that I guess-"

"-you've learned to do"

Carol brought her eyes up from their hands on the table and quickly found Daryl's eyes. And with the simple but powerful look between them- a certain look so full of understanding that she could not remember ever sharing one like it with another person before him- she knew he understood. She knew he got her. She knew he knew exactly how she felt.

Because he felt it too.

Daryl bit his lower lip before bringing the side of his thumb back to his mouth, and when he saw the sympathy and sadness fill Carol's eyes, he quickly looked down.

"Daryl, I . . ." Carol's voice was soft, barely audible. She didn't know what to say. But, she knew that she didn't have to say anything at all. He knew without the words. Their friendship was good like that. So, she simply let her words trail off.

A small smirk started at the corner of Daryl's mouth, and he shook his head slowly, eyes still averted from hers. "It was a long time ago" He said, his gravelly voice beautifully contrasting the smooth silence.

She nodded and let out a sigh. And, it wasn't until she peeked out the window that Daryl chanced a look up.

"That doesn't mean it still doesn't get to you" Carol said softly as she looked back toward him. He held eyes with her for only a few seconds before looking out the window himself. She saw him nod slightly, and accepted that as his response.

She had always suspected he had been abused. But suspecting and finding out the truth are two completely different things. And she suddenly felt a sinking hole in the pit of her stomach, and felt her heart ache. She couldn't imagine the torment he must have gone through.

And she guessed it was denial that took over her when she saw his scars that night he had come back wounded. It couldn't possibly be from abuse, from intentional beatings. Surely, it had been from bow and arrow practice gone wrong, boyhood tussles in the woods, and adventurous camping trips as a teen. Or, so she let herself think. Convinced herself was the truth. Because the alternative . . . well, that was just too horrible.

But she had known, and despite all the effort she put into convincing herself otherwise, she_ had_ known. She recognized the look in his eyes- the desire to please and to do the right thing, the fear of rejection, self-doubt. His eyes had spoken to her long before they had ever had their first conversation, and she knew from day one that he had struggled. Maybe it was her own similar past that had allowed her to see through his façade so easily. She didn't know. But, she did know that he tried hard to put up a wall and to compensate in any way he knew how to for his past.

"I still cringe when I hear a loud noise" Carol said quietly. If he was going to hide his own past behind a wall of embarrassment and shame, then the least she could do for him was show him that he was not alone. "Or the creak of the door, or someone's heavy footsteps"

Carol watched him closely, and she knew that he was listening intently, despite his efforts to appear otherwise. He continued to look out the window without even so much as a glance back to her, but she continued anyway.

"I jumped a mile high when I dropped a pan in the kitchen last week" She said softly, trying to offer as much of a smirk as she could, "And the other day I sat straight up from my nap and jumped up off the floor when I heard someone yelling throughout the house . . . then I tried to act as casually as possible when Glenn came around the corner. All he was doing was calling for Maggie" Carol shrugged sadly and looked again toward Daryl. She left her eyes on the side of his face, as he leaned his head against the window, seemingly hooked on the yard outside.

"Rick touched my shoulder from behind the other day and I yelped. I actually _yelped_, and then tried to cover the whole thing up by saying he just caught me off guard. When I spilled a drop of dressing on the ground last night I dropped to the ground and cleaned it up in rapid time, because I had learned to clean quickly or get trouble, and when I put the pepper back in the wrong cabinet I apologized for five minutes straight before Maggie finally convinced me it wasn't a big deal"

"I hesitate to smile or laugh sometimes, and I still find myself checking that my shirt isn't down too far off my neck and that my hair hasn't grown too long before I cut it."

Carol was quiet for several seconds before continuing on. She was still watching Daryl carefully, and could have sworn he was about to turn back towards her.

"And I still flinch during arguments"

With this Daryl finally turned to look at her, and they met eyes again. He offered her a quick nod of his head and a small understanding smile, and combined with the look he was giving her, she knew he understood.

"I sleep better with the damn walkers everywhere, threatening to destroy camp at any second, than I did at my own house" Daryl said softly, dropping his eyes from Carol's again. But Carol quickly grabbed ahold of Daryl's hand, and he looked back at her.

"Me too" Carol said softly, nodding. Daryl gave her small nod.

They sat there like that, holding hands across the table, sitting in silence for a few long minutes. It was Daryl who finally broke the silence.

"It gets better, you know"

Carol looked up at him quickly, but his eyes were still focused on their hands. "After a while, you start to get better" He brought his eyes up slowly to meet Carol's, and if she hadn't known that he was a thirty something year old man, the look in his eyes and his childish vulnerability in that moment, would have easily convinced her he was a little boy.

Carol nodded slowly. "I believe that" She said, her voice strong with conviction. "I've seen it first hand, and that's what I'm hoping for" She hesitated briefly, looking intently at Daryl, who was still holding her eyes with his. " . . .I've seen it in _you_, Daryl"

He gave her a shy smile before dropping his eyes to his lap. She gripped his hand tighter, intertwining her fingers with his, and he let her.

After several long seconds, he still refused to look at her, and so she reached across the table slowly, and gently placed her other hand on his check, moving his head up to look at her.

Daryl brought his head up slowly, but his eyes had yet to follow. Carol let her hand linger on Daryl's cheek and his cheeks started to blush slightly.

"Daryl" Carol spoke softly as her hand cupped his cheek. At her use of his name, he brought his eyes up slowly to meet hers. She was smiling at him, and her eyes were glistening with that lovely, kind, spark that always seemed to fill them. He pursed his lips tightly together before starting to bite his lower lip.

His eyes flicked away from hers for a second, down to their hands, but he quickly brought them back up.

"You've shown me how change is possible" Carol said softly, her hand still brushing along the side of his face. He forced himself to continue looking at her.

Daryl shrugged, "I haven't done anything" His boyishness was pouring out of him again, his innocence.

Carol quickly shook her head. And, when Daryl started to turn his head back down, she gently moved her hand along his face, telling him to look at her again.

"You've come so far, Daryl." Carol said with a smile. "Farther than any of the rest of us. You've changed from back when I first met you at the quarry. You've opened up, you've allowed yourself to connect. You love and are loved, and you fight for the ones you care about. You're strong and you're caring and you're ready to do whatever it takes for this group of strangers that have become a family. You're different now, Daryl. You've changed for the good"

Daryl, eyes still focusing on Carol's, hesitated before speaking. Carol could see his cheeks blushing, and she knew her words had embarrassed him. He wasn't too used to hearing the good about himself, but with her help, and the help from the rest of the group, he had been forced to face it more and more often. He smiled at her.

"You know, I wouldn't sell yourself short" Daryl said, his raspy voice filled with his southern sweetness.

Carol gave him a small smirk, and patted his hand, before shyly dropping her own eyes to the table with a quick shake of her head.

Now it was Daryl's turn to reach across the table and place his hand softly on her cheek. She felt his rough fingers against her skin and felt a shiver through her. It felt good to have him touching her like that, to have him holding her. She felt comforted, safe. She felt like she was exactly where she belonged.

"You're strong. Stronger than you think you are, and you're ready to face anything. You're not who you were at the quarry either . . . scared and afraid. No. You've got what it takes. You've faced so much, dealt with so much, and have still managed to get up again every time. You're a survivor, Carol."

The sound of her name through his voice made her heart flutter, and she tried to remember if she'd ever heard him speak it before. But it was lovely, his gravelly, raspy voice, and his gentle touch on the side of her face, and the soft, comforting look in his eyes. And she knew she loved him. And, if she was being honest with herself, she had known she had loved him for a long time now.

"I guess we're both survivors" Carol said, her smile spreading underneath Daryl's fingers. He gently rubbed his thumb over her soft cheek, and intertwined his fingers even tighter with her hand on the table.

"Ya" Daryl said, smiling back at her, "I guess we are"

**Thanks for reading! I hope you guys enjoyed this! Please leave a review and let me know what you think! I'm thinking of doing some more Daryl and Carol stories, so if you have any scenes/story lines you'd like to see, I'd be willing to try them out! I have a few ideas now, but I'm open to suggestions! Thanks again!**


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